Push-pull dispensing cap with double seal



' May 12, 1970 f lMQKEssLh-,R

PUSH-PULL DISPENSING GAP WITH DOUBLE SEAL Filed June 29, 1967 mw. IMJ* iv l G I 8H INVENTOR Milton Kessler mw J. JWM

ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,511,420 PUSH-PULL DISPENSING CAP WITH DOUBLE SEAL Milton Kessler, 6690 Harrington, Youngstown, Ohio 44512 Filed June 29, 1967, Ser. No. 649,988 Int. Cl. B67d 3/00 U.S. Cl. 222-525 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A push-pull dispensing and closure cap for containers of liquids, such as detergents, the cap having a fixed central axial closure post -which closes a hole in an axially slidable outer dispensing spout when the spout is pushed toward the cap; the spout has a cylindrical lower sleeve which slides telescopically in a slightly larger diameter sleeve fixed to the cap and in the lowermost or closed position makes a tight abutting seal between the lower portion of the said cylindrical sleeve and a lower portion of said larger diameter sleeve, which seal prevents leakage of fluid between the two sleeves.

This invention relates to a dispensing closure for use with bottles of liquid material which is dispensed in small quantities during use, such as liquid detergents, cleaning fluid, shampoo, and so forth. These materials are often sold in bottles, which may be glass but which may be plastic squeeze bottles, and in use, a small quantity of the contained liquid is supplied as by inverting the bottle or also by squeezing it, in the case of plastic squeeze bottles. A common type of dispensing closure for this purpose is embodied in a cap, usually made of plastic, which may be screwed or otherwise aflixed to the bottle, and which has an axially slidable spout with a central hole or dispensing aperture, this spout being sealed by a fixed center post when the slidable spout is pressed down toward the cap, and which is freed from this center post by axial motion of the pouring spout away from the cap to permit the contents of the bottle to be dispensed through the central aperture. A cap of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,20l013. One problem which has arisen in caps of this type is that although the central aperture can be readily and effectively sealed bythe fixed post, the rest of the pouring spout which necessarily constitutes a sleeve which telescopically slides within a slightly larger sleeve to provide the above-described axial motion, is subject to leakage between the two sleeves, especially in the case of squeeze bottles, which are readily deformed by pressure on the sides of the bottle.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel yet simple structure which produces an effective seal between the two telescoping cylinders in the closed position of the dispensing spout.

Another problem resides in the fact that the fluids which are dispensed are often rather viscous and tend not to flow freely; it is therefore essential that the spout construction be such as to provide a good flow path between the interior of the container and the aperture of the pouring spout, in order that the rate of flow shall be satisfactory. This is accomplished in the present invention by providing a smooth flow channel in the dispensing spout, with only a minimum amount of unavoidable obstruction in this channel due to the necessity of supporting the center post.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

31,51 1,420 Patented May l2, 1970 ICE FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken on line 1-1 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged View of a portion of FIG. 2, in order to show more clearly the details of the seal; and

FIG. 4 is a bottom elevation view of the cap of the invention.

The cap 2, preferably of molded plastic, is shown provided with internal threads 3 for screwing the cap onto a correspondingly threaded neck of a bottle or container which may be either glass or the common type of plastic squeeze bottle. The cap 2 is preferably provided with a flexible sealing ring 4 which engages the lip of the neck of the container to ywhich the cap is attached, although any other type of sealing arrangement may be employed. The central portion of the cap has integrally molded therewith a downwardly protruding cylinder 6 having sufliciently thick walls to maintain a reasonable amount of rigidity, and provided at the top thereof with an internal flanged portion 7 of slightly smaller internal diameter than the main diameter of the cylindrical portion 6. The bottom portion of cylinder 6 is provided with an inwardly turned flange 8 having a sloping upper surface 9 adapted to form a seal with a correspondingly shaped bottom portion 11 of a cylinder 12 of smaller diameter than cylinder 6 and adapted to slide telescopingly within cylinder 6. Cylinder 12 is the lower portion of the pouring spout 13 which is provided with a central aperture 14 through which the liquid to be dispensed emerges when the pouring spout 13 is in the position shown in FIG. l. In the closed position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the aperture 14 is closed by central post 16 which is supported from the bottom of the cap cylinder 6 by means of struts 17 shown as four in number, as this number of struts has been found to give adequate support without significantly obstructing the flow of fluid, although it will be apparent that a different number of struts could also be used. The struts 17 are preferably not horizontal, but slope upwardly from their point of connection to the inner flange 8, which has the advantage of providing less interference with the flow of liquid through the dispensing spout, and also tends to maintain the inner flange 8 and surface 9 rigid and dimensionally stable so as to provide a good sealing fit between surfaces 11 and 19. An annularly projecting ring 18 is provided near the lower portion of inner cylinder 12 to take up the clearance between the two cylinders, and thereby the combination of flanges 7 and 18 provide a smooth sliding fit between the two cylinders without wobbling. These two flanges also aid to some extent in minimizing leakage from the interior of the container to the space between the two telescoping cylinders; however, the dimensional accuracy to which these parts can be molded in practice is not such that this by itself provides adequate sealing in all cases, this being accomplished between the abutting surfaces 8 and 9, which are not so sensitive to minor variations in dimensional tolerances due to the geometrical configuration employed. The same is true of the closing fit between the post 16 and aperture 14, it being only necessary that the diameter of the aperture be correct for the size of the post employed, and any slight lateral deviation will be accommodated due to the flexibility of the post 16. The present structure therefore makes it possible to obtain a reliable and leak-proof fit at both regions where leakage normally tends to occur, without requiring a high degree of dimensional accuracy which is difficult or impossible to obtain with the plastic materials employed. At the same time, no very intricate molding operations are required, which are also diflicult to perform and tend to result in a large number of rejects.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be 3 made in construction and arrangement within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A plastic cap for a liquid container, said cap having a cylindrical side portion and a top portion extending across one end of said cylindrical side portion, said cap comprising (a) fastening means for fastening the cap to a pouring neck portion of a liquid container;

(b) sealing means for sealing the cap in a liquid-tight manner to the neck of a container to which the cap is fastened;

(c) a hollow tubular member extending from the top of the cap and providing fluid communication from the inside of the cap to the outside;

(d) an internal reentrant flange at the bottom of said tubular member; said flange having an upper surface sloping upwardly from the interior wall of said tubular member toward the central axis of the tubular member;

(e) a central post within said hollow member ano coaxial therewith;

(f) strut 4means supporting said central post within said hollow member, said strut means permitting flow of liquid through said hollow member;

(g) a cap-like pouring spout comprising a cylindrical element and a top portion, said cylindrical element being telescopically axially slidable within said tubular member and said top portion having a central pouring aperture;

(h) the bottom rim of said cylindrical element having a sloping surface seating against the upwardly sloping surface of sad reentrant flange to form a liquidtight bottom seal in the lowest position of said pouring spout;

(i) said central post closing said central pouring aperture in said lowest position of said pouring spout; (j) said pouring spout being axially slidable within said hollow tubular member to another position in which said central aperture is free from said central post to permit liquid liow therethrough;

(k) each of said strut members being fixed at one end to said internal reentrant ange and at the other end to said central post;

(l) each of said strut members sloping upwardly from said internal reentrant flange to a point of junction with the bottom of said post.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,722,802 7/1929 King 222-521 1,904,739 4/1933 Kroen 222-521 2,969,168 1/1961 Newby 222-525 3,201,013 8/1965 Porter et al 222-525 FOREIGN PATENTS 625,196 8/1961 Canada.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner 

